Biomass energy in North American policies

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of biomass energy in the federal government policies of Canada, Mexico and the USA on the development and utilization of biomass energy. These policies span the entire spectrum from poor to excellent. One of the main driving forces displacing fossil fuels today is environmental issues. But there are still major barriers that are affected by government policies and that must be overcome to facilitate the displacement of large amounts of fossil fuels by biomass. Among these are development of large-scale systems that can supply sustainable amounts of biomass energy and biofuels at competitive prices, and nationwide distribution systems that simplify consumer access. These and other barriers must ultimately be addressed if any federal government decides to institute policies to help establish large-scale biomass energy markets. Otherwise biomass energy utilization will continue to rely on government subsidies and will be limited to niche markets for many years until oil depletion and supply disruptions become a fact of life. This indeed may turn out to be the third oil shock in the 21st century.     

Communication on energy Renewable energy and environment policies in Africa

Energy policies in Africa, as in most other developing regions, have been in a state of flux ever since petroleum-based fuel prices began to rise significantly from late 1973. For African countries, the timing of this increase in energy prices could not have been at a worse juncture. In the early 1970s, many African countries — especially those in the Sudano-Sahelian region, had been ravaged by years of drought, which had seriously adverse impacts on food production. When energy crisis was superimposed on an already persistent food crisis on a group of developing countries whose economies were not robust and resilient enough to successfully withstand even one of such major crises, the results were predictable and catastrophic.     

Nuclear energy in the Soviet Union

Despite abundant supplies of fossil fuels in the Soviet Union, electricity from nuclear power increased dramatically in the 1970s. Plans for future expansion are also optimistic. The institutions of central planning theoretically allow coordination of different sectors and facilitate policy decisions of such magnitude. The inefficiencies of the planning process in practice, however, have meant failure to meet targets. Pressure groups have not influenced policy decisions and safety and environmental protection standards are lower than in the West. There is little overt disagreement with the decision to expand the nuclear sector but some scientists advocate new siting policies. For the moment, however, the expansion of the nuclear industry in the Soviet Union is secure.     

UK governments' energy policies

Some of the ambiguities, lack of coherence, and the resulting peculiarities of successive UK Governments' energy policies are reviewed. Major investments of public finance have occurred in the energy-releasing industries, while equally economic energy-thrift options have been starved relatively of such funds. A long-term (∼ 30 year) rolling-plan for the main themes of a radical future policy concerning the supply and cost-effective use of energy is needed, and so some pertinent, preliminary suggestions for adoption are stated. The purpose of this presented set of opinions is to stimulate discussion!     

Co-benefits from energy policies in China

The rapid growth in coal and oil consumption has led to increasing emissions of greenhouse gases as well as air pollutants in China. In response to this, the Chinese government has begun to formulate policies to retard the increasing use of energy consumption and to improve air quality. This paper attempts to quantify the co-benefits of reducing carbon dioxide emissions and improving air quality from policies that are originally formulated to improve energy efficiency and to abate emissions of air pollutants from energy use. The present authors have developed an integrated approach, combining an energy projection model, an emission estimation model, an air quality simulation model, and a health benefit evaluation model, to assess the co-benefits of two different sets of energy policies of China. The modeling results show that significant benefits, including 1469 million tonnes of reduced emissions of CO₂, 12–32% decline in air pollutant concentrations, and more than 100 billion US$ of health benefit, can be achieved around the year 2030 if aggressive energy policies are implemented. The analyses suggest that such energy policies could do a lot of benefit to the environment. Moreover, better industry structure and energy structure is essential for higher air quality.     

Renewable energy sources for clean and sustainable energy policies in Turkey

Energy is an essential factor to achieve sustainable development. So, countries striving to this end are seeking to reassess their energy systems with a view towards planning energy programmes and strategies in line with sustainable development goals and objectives. As would be expected, the rapid expansion of energy production and consumption has brought with it a wide range of environmental issues at the local, regional and global levels. States have played a leading role in protecting the environment by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. Turkey is an energy importing country with more than half of the energy requirement being supplied by imports, and air pollution is becoming a great environmental concern in the country. On the other hand, Turkey's geographical location has several advantages for extensive use of most of the renewable energy sources. In this regard, renewable energy resources appear the most efficient and effective solutions for clean and sustainable energy development in Turkey. This paper provides an overview of global energy use and renewables for clean and sustainable energy policies in Turkey.     

Energy production and sustainable energy policies in Turkey

Turkey's demand for energy and electricity is increasing rapidly. Turkey is heavily dependent on expensive imported energy resources that place a big burden on the economy and air pollution is becoming a great environmental concern in the country. Turkey's energy production meets nearly 28% of its total primary energy consumption. As would be expected, the rapid expansion of energy production and consumption has brought with it a wide range of environmental issues at the local, regional and global levels. With respect to global environmental issues, Turkey's carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions have grown along with its energy consumption. States have played a leading role in protecting the environment by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). In this regard, renewable energy resources appear to be the one of the most efficient and effective solutions for clean and sustainable energy development in Turkey. Turkey presently has considerable renewable energy sources. The most important renewable sources are hydropower, biomass, geothermal, solar and wind. Turkey's geographical location has several advantages for extensive use of most of these renewable energy sources. Turkey has a great and ever-intensifying need for power and water supplies and they also have the greatest remaining hydro potential. Hydropower and especially small hydropower are emphasized as Turkey's renewable energy sources. Turkey's hydro electric potential can meet 33–46% of its electric energy demand in 2020 and this potential may easily and economically be developed. This paper presents a review of the potential and utilization of the renewable energy sources in Turkey.     

Soviet energy Current problems and future options

The connection between Soviet oil and energy resources, their efficient and timely utilization, and politico-military opportunities in the Persian Gulf region offer an inescapable link for analysis. Worsening trends in economic growth, factor productivity, social unrest, and energy production/distribution offset optimistic trends in Soviet military procurement and deployment. A conjunction of geologic, geographic, and systemic factors all point to a mid-1980s energy imbalance which in turn will pose hard questions for the Moscow leadership.     

Effects of energy policies on industry expansion in renewable energy

Energy policies may lead to important industrial outcomes. This paper investigates the impacts of energy policies on industry growth in renewable energy. Research tools employed include the commercialization process, value chain analysis, and empirical case studies. Different renewable energy technologies and geographical regions are considered covering over 50% of the world markets of the technology fields considered. Market deployment measures that enhance home markets of domestic industries will in most cases lead to growing industrial activities. Irrespective of the domestic market situation, pure investment or R&D support alone to already strong industries in related fields may be powerful to help with diversification into sustainable energy business. Several exogenous factors such as timing, size factors, geography, etc. will influence both the industrial and policy positioning in practice. The results indicate that there are increased industrial opportunities in renewable energy to be captured not only by large countries or through large public resources, but also smaller countries can gain success through clever policies and optimal managing of the commercialization process.     

On energy conservation policies and implementation practices

Energy conservation is now playing a key role in industrial development and is vital for sustainable development. Therefore, it should be implemented by all possible means, despite of its own limitations. This study highlights the current enviromental issues and potential solutions to these issues, identifies the main steps for implementing energy conservation programs and the main barriers to such implementations, and provides assessments for energy conservation potentials for countries, as well as various practical and environmental aspects of energy conservation. It is believed that this paper will be beneficial to energy policy makers particularly for energy conservation programmes. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Robustness as a goal in energy models and policies

Terms such as flexibility, resiliency, robustness and freedom of action are appearing increasingly in national energy policy documents with little reference to their meaning in the context of the policy or their measurement relative to policy development. One of these elements, robustness, presents an interesting alternative to cost minimization for decisions involving energy projects and policies. The use of robustness as a policy objective is examined with reference to future electrical generation in the province of Ontario, and the difficulties in planned outcomes between the goals of cost minimization and robustness are discussed. The assumption is made of a linkage between energy models and policies to facilitate the use of robustness analysis. Examples of the form of this linkage are presented in the Canadian context.     

Developing sustainable energy policies for electrical energy conservation in Saudi Arabia

Towards the end of 1998, the Saudi Arabian electricity sector embarked upon a major restructuring program. One of the aims of the program is to achieve sustainable performance. Although progress has been made, a number of challenges remain, including high demand growth, low generation capacity reserve margins, inefficient energy use, absence of time-of-use tariffs, and the need for large capital investments to meet current and future expansion.     

Primary energy production in the Soviet Union problems and prospects

Analyses and commentary on the Soviet energy situation by observers in the non-communist countries have usually been primarily historical or have dealt with particular aspects only. However, in this article, Mr Chesshire and Miss Huggett review the current situation, problems and prospects of the primary energy industries in the USSR and the extent of Soviet trade in fossil fuels with both her COMECON partners and the non-communist countries. They also discuss the implications of long-term Soviet economic growth projections and possible changes in international relations, with particular reference to the possible emergence of the USSR in the longer term as a significant exporter of primary fuels.     

Business-as-Unusual: Existing policies in energy model baselines

Baselines are generally accepted as a key input assumption in long-term energy modelling, but energy models have traditionally been poor on identifying baselines assumptions. Notably, transparency on the current policy content of model baselines is now especially critical as long-term climate mitigation policies have been underway for a number of years. This paper argues that the range of existing energy and emissions policies are an integral part of any long-term baseline, and hence already represent a “with-policy” baseline, termed here a Business-as-Unusual (BAuU). Crucially, existing energy policies are not a sunk effort; as impacts of existing policy initiatives are targeted at future years, they may be revised through iterative policy making, and their quantitative effectiveness requires ex-post verification. To assess the long-term role of existing policies in energy modelling, currently identified UK policies are explicitly stripped out of the UK MARKAL Elastic Demand (MED) optimisation energy system model, to generate a BAuU (with-policy) and a REF (without policy) baseline. In terms of long-term mitigation costs, policy-baseline assumptions are comparable to another key exogenous modelling assumption — that of global fossil fuel prices. Therefore, best practice in energy modelling would be to have both a no-policy reference baseline, and a current policy reference baseline (BAuU). At a minimum, energy modelling studies should have a transparent assessment of the current policy contained within the baseline. Clearly identifying and comparing policy-baseline assumptions are required for cost effective and objective policy making, otherwise energy models will underestimate the true cost of long-term emissions reductions.     

Third World energy policies Demand management and conservation

Increasing energy costs underline the need for more efficient management of energy supply and demand to maintain economic growth, especially in the resource scarce developing countries. Combining policy tools for demand management and conservation (including pricing, physical controls, technical methods, and education) yields the best results. Pricing policy takes into account the efficiency costs of energy supply required to meet economic objectives. This is then adjusted to satisfy other objectives of pricing such as social-subsidy considerations, financial viability, conservation, price stability, etc. Energy conservation programmes should be implemented only after determining whether their economic benefits exceed the corresponding costs.